Data Feed - Product Id Question

[mountaingoat]

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Hi there,

I've had limited experience with data feeds to date but currently looking at the integration of multiple feeds in order create a price comparison.

I have looked at the webgains and awin product feeds for 6 different merchants and trying to work out how if product ID's for the same product but from different merchants don't match, you go about matching them up to ensure that if you're looking for a "Men's North Face Resolve Waterproof Jacket" for example, the relevant merchants that sell said jacket, appear on that page with associated prices?

Any help, guidance or suggestions is much appreciated (especially if I'm missing something blindingly obvious)

Phil

[Hero]

The product IDs are not universal identifiers for products, unlike ISBN or EAN/MPN numbers. Each merchant assigns a unique ID for each product for their own reference and stock control. The network uses the ID to report on what products were sold and identify them in the product feed, but that's as far as it goes.

Many price comparison affiliates assign unique IDs of their own and identify which products are the same from a number of different retailers.

[Adeel]

Hi Phil,
The product IDs are merchant based unique identifiers for each retailer. Some user numeric numbers obtained from their local system, others use mix with product category such as HARDMEMELI20 etc. There is no standard procedure. If you wish to identify same product from multiple retailer then you need to look for EAN, ISBN, MPN etc that would be common for universal products as hero mentioned.

[mountaingoat]

Thanks to you both for your replies. I've been having a scour through a few feeds and no unique identifiers seem to be jumping out. In your experience, do clothing / sports product feeds include product numbers such as EAN, ISBN, MPN's?

Thanks